Ulster Rugby vs Connacht

Welcome to Round 19 of the Guinness PRO12 and the excitement is now building week-by-week as we approach the climax to this year’s championship. With only four games left for most of the clubs, the race to the Play-Offs next month and the Final at BT Murrayfield on 28 May, as well as European qualification, focuses everyone’s attention. There are two Irish derbies taking place this weekend with Ulster taking on league leaders Connacht here at a packed Kingspan Stadium in Belfast this evening and tomorrow over 40,000 fans will see Leinster play Munster in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. This weekend sees four major derby games I nall, two take place in Wales: at Rodney Parade the Newport Gwent Dragons host the Ospreys tonight; and the other takes place at Parc y Scarlets tomorrow afternoon when the Scarlets entertain Cardiff Blues. The two Scottish/Italian inter-union games see Edinburgh and Zebre clash at BT Murrayfield tonight and tomorrow Benetton Treviso take on Glasgow Warriors in Stadio Monigo. In all there are 16 inter–union matches plus four Irish and five of the ‘Big Six’ Welsh derbies left to be played, at time of writing, in this year’s league section of the Guinness PRO12. This season’s run-in will make for some great rugby in a wonderful atmosphere. To date, we have seen over four tries scored per game on average, 441 in total, and 36 try bonus points scored overall. Over half of our games this season (59 out of 107) have finished with less than seven points between the teams so lots of close, exciting rugby is there to be enjoyed. Ulster’s only defeat in their last 19 encounters with Connacht since 2005 was 21-26 in Galway in April 2012, whilst Connacht’s most recent victory in Belfast came in November 1960 in the old Interprovincial Championship. We are delighted that you, the fans, come out and get behind your own clubs. It is great to see and hear a packed Kingspan Stadium roaring its support and appreciation both for the home team and for quality rugby. I am also delighted that over 40,000 tickets have already been sold for the double-derby Judgement Day IV at Principality Stadium on 30 April and I have no doubt more fans of the four Welsh regions will turn up to support their teams and beat last year’s record attendance of 52,762. We are also on course to have a record crowd at the Guinness PRO12 Final on 28 May in Edinburgh. The interest in our flagship event has been terrific and we have some exciting plans, that we hope to be able to announce shortly, around the event to ensure that all fans, no matter what team you support, will have a great day out in Edinburgh. The Guinness PRO12 Awards Dinner will also take place just over a month from now (08 May) so there is a lot going on with regards the championship. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the teams, players and officials all the very best for their games this weekend and again thank you, the fans, for your continued support. Enjoy the game